For the Love of Zero!
by Mad Clown Disease
Summary: X series. Zero falls victim to a series of practical jokes, some cute and funny while others could be deadly, the culprit being none other than Axl. X/Zero contained within! On hold, but will eventually continue.


**For the Love of Zero!**

By: Storm the Chao

Chapter 1: Meet Pranksters Axl and Manus

Note: This fanfic contains shounen-ai, aka, gay guys. If you're like offended/over religious or something you should go kill yoursel- I MEAN, not read this. ; Most of it is for humor purposes. Also, beware of the potty mouths belonging to the characters.

Disclaimer: I do not own Rockman X, or any related characters and likewise used in this piece of writing. I don't own any of the mentioned songs, either, the respective artists (which is always mentioned) are the owners.

Permission Issues: If you wish to post this on your own site, you must leave my author name and all notes on this document, not require financial exchanges of any kind, contact me first, and link either my author name (Storm the Chao) to my website, Dungeon of Storms, or link to it in your site's links section.

* * *

"Hehehe..." Axl snickered as he watched X enter Zero's room. "This'll be too good." He whispered to himself. Today, X was planning on going to the city with Zero for some 'quality time,' and this was the redhead Axl's chance to have some fun.

To make things look less suspicious, Axl was dressed in his normal clothes; it was a day off and neither X nor Zero walked around in their heavy armor all day. Axl was wearing his helmet, along some black jeans and a blue Guns N' Roses T-shirt with red stripes down the middle of the shoulders. In his pocket was his mp3 player, connected to a pair of white headphones that went under his shirt and hung loosely around the reploid's neck. At the moment there wasn't anything playing, but trust me, you could hear it from several feet away if it was.

Axl stood stiff, back to the wall, and slowly inched himself forward to Zero's door, trying to hear what was being said. It was completely quiet. Axl smirked as he quietly began to open the door inconspicuously. He inched it open a little, and heard a light gasp coming from the two reploids inside. Had Axl been discovered? He decided to stick around and wait for a second to see if they would act on it.

... Nothing. The redhead mentally sighed with relief and got ready to open the door, utterly embarrassing the couple. He got his mp3 player ready, held one finger on the "play" button, and backed up. He ran SMACK into the door, opening it, as he simultaneously hit the play button, blasting out the Demons and Wizards song "Crimson King."

X nearly jumped out of the whole base, much less the bed he was sitting on, and Zero fell out of his chair backwards. Axl giggled as he looked on at the couple's wide-eyed features.

Zero looked up to see their scar-faced teammate and fumed. "**_Axl_**! You little shit!"

X looked up as well upon hearing Zero's shout, his green orbs still the size of dinner plates, with his hand on his chest. He remained silent, too shocked to speak.

Axl cackled when seeing X's position on the ground. "Wow X, if only you could see yourself **now**!" the redhead quickly spout out.

Zero stood up and slowly walked towards Axl, his face completely unemotional. This was never a good thing. A sweatdrop appeared on Axl's head and he turned around and ran for his young life.

Zero took pursuit of the shorter reploid, pissed as ever. As they scurried around the base, other friendly reploids occupying the areas they ran through gave the two hunters raised eyebrows as they heard the screams of "Don't kill me, **please**!" and "Come back here, you hell raiser!"

Eventually, Zero caught up to his so-called ally, and took hold of him by the collar of his slightly over-sized shirt. Axl gulped and stared into Zero's icy blue eyes with fear. He knew he was in deep shit this time.

"Uhhh, hey there Zero, I didn't know you and X were making out- I mean, _hanging_ out, in there!" Axl faked with a squeak in his voice. The music coming from his headphones was still blaring, making Zero twitch. He sighed and dropped the boy onto the ground and stormed out.

Axl sat on his ass, staring at the blond hunter with wonder. He slowly eased himself to a standing position and ran to his room to go plan his next surprise for Zero.

* * *

Zero flipped his hair back and walked coolly to his room, pretending nothing had gone down between him and Axl, though totally different thoughts were running through his mind. _'I dropped him... I dropped him because I thought simply threatening would teach him a lesson... but Axl won't learn like that, not at all. Next time he does something like this, I have to punish him. No holding back. No matter what he or X says, I'm going to show that little asshole who's boss next time he tries his shit.'_

Zero retained a calm disposition while returning to his room. X was sitting on the bed when he returned, and he was wearing one of Zero's shirts. This slightly annoyed the hunter.

"X." he addressed.

"Yeah?" X responded, pretending he wasn't doing anything.

"Give me my shirt." Zero sternly commanded.

X sighed. "Yeah whatever." the blue reploid took the shirt off and threw it at Zero, not wanting to provoke him. This revealed X's normal shirt, the one he had on when Axl had barged in; a tye-dye shirt with blue and green colors. X's helmet was off, revealing his short, messy brown hair. He wore a light blue headband with dark blue stripes on the sides, and a peace sign in the middle of the front of it. He wore normal blue jeans and blue boots to top it off. Yeah, one could easily tell it was X alright.

Zero himself was wearing a white t-shirt, red jeans with a thick yellow stripe at the bottom of each leg, an open red jacket, and red shoes with the front half colored white. He also wore a gold chain necklace with a sword pendant. His helmet was also off, showing his head-full of long blond hair. This look was done to mimic his armor intentionally.

Zero sighed. "I let him go." It took X a minute to figure out what his partner was talking about, but when it clicked the blue bomber smiled.

"Good choice!" he commented with a goofy smile.

Zero turned to face his friend once more. "_Good_? How is that good? If I let him go, he won't learn shit!" the hunter said with anger.

X put his head down a little and closed his eyes. "You have a point. But it's best to–"

"Not punish him!" Zero interrupted. "Yeah, that's how all kids grow up to be assets to everyone!" he added with sarcasm, his voice almost at a shout.

X shook his head. "Axl is older and more responsible than what you give him credit for. You treat him like he's a ten year old. He thinks you're the best thing since the wheel. Give it a rest." X said before flopping down on the bed.

Zero rolled his eyes. "He might be older, but does he _act_ older?" the hunter concluded. X didn't say anything, he just lie there on Zero's bed, his face in a pillow. This meant that X didn't want to fight any more and he wanted his friend back from the world of argument.

The taller reploid sighed and sat down on his bed, and X's back, intentionally. X gave his friend a look before violently pushing him off onto the floor. Zero laughed at this, completely at ease again. The two stayed like that, silent; Zero on the floor and X on the bed, for what seemed like hours, before X decided to say something.

"Let's go to the city before Axl gets time to stalk us down and make it miserable." said X, his tone friendly and calm.

* * *

BANG! Axl's helmet went flying off as he violently slung his head forward, headphones on, music blaring. He continued banging his head, not paying attention to what happened to his helmet, red hair flying all over the place. Axl was walking around the hallway, kicking his helmet along rather than picking it up. This gave him a few strange glances, but his eyes were closed and he acted as if he didn't care. All that mattered was the sound emanating from the two tiny pieces of plastic and metal stuck in his ears. 

When he was about to turn a corner, Axl eased one eye open to check his surroundings, and to his surprise he saw Zero. The scar-faced reploid grinned sinisterly. This was gonna be good. Axl grabbed his cell phone from his pocket and hid behind a couch in the room he was in. The phone on the desk rang, and since the receptionist was out, Zero ran over to the desk to answer it.

"Hello?" Answered the crimson hunter, unaware of Axl's presence in the room.

"Hi there," Axl imitated the voice of a salesman, "is there an 'Amanda Hugenkiss' at the quarters you are currently residing in?"

Zero scratched his head. He'd never heard of that name before. "**HEY**!" Zero shouted to everyone in the room, "Is there an Amanda Hugenkiss here!"

No one answered, but there were some laughs heard all around the room. Zero's face suddenly turned a deep shade of red when he realized what had just happened.

X, with his impeccable timing, decided now be the time to enter the room. Upon seeing him, Axl jumped out of his hiding place and screamed, "THERE'S AMANDA HUGENKISS!!" while pointing to X.

X looked at the kid, startled, then glanced over at Zero's red face. This could not mean anything good by _any_ remote stretch of the imagination.

"**_AXL_**!" Zero screamed at the top of his lungs, his face being tainted to an even darker shade of red if it was even possible. Axl had prank called Zero before, but this was over the line; making fun of his relationship with X. Laugher roared throughout the room, and X blushed deeply.

"Umm," X hesitated, embarrassed, "I forgot to turn my TV off! Can't waste power, be right back Zero!" the blue reploid dashed down the hall from which he came, devastated.

Axl snickered evilly. His celebration time was cut short when he saw a shadow obscure his vision, and in response the helmet-less reploid looked up into the face of a _very_ pissed Zero. The red reploid could hear Axl's music blaring once more, to a degree that he could even tell what the lyrics were:

_Silent tears are running down my face into the night  
As I'm getting closer to my heart that's full of fright  
They lead me down a steep hell spire  
And burn my body in the fire _

_This is the island of damnation,  
Where all your dreams are gonna fall  
My mind is screaming for salvation  
My heart is torn apart and thrown  
Into the fire below_

Zero smirked at hearing this. "How appropriate." he thought aloud. Axl widened his expression at the red hunter's words, but soon figured out what he meant.

"Umm... Zero?" the redhead squeaked. This was Zero's cue to grab the mischievous runt by the ears, making him scream. Axl kicked Zero in the nuts, though, which wasn't something the blond had planned on happening. He immediately dropped Axl and the short reploid took off in a flurry.

Zero cursed under his breath. _'Damn that kid...'_

Axl took out his mp3 player and switched the song when he got far enough away from Zero; Gamma Ray's "Fire Below" now freaked him out. The kid sighed and put his back against the wall, breathing hard.

_'That was a close one...'_ Axl thought to himself, _'I now see what the others meant about me losing my heartbeat to music like that.'_ He sighed, recalling his scream back in the other room. Axl lowered his head a little, ashamed that he did that. _'I can't believe I just screamed back there. Now I really look like an idiot.'_ He put his headphones back in and decided he would just walk down the hall, like nothing ever happened. As he walked, he hummed the tune to Europe's "The Final Countdown."

About two minutes later, Axl had realized he forgot his helmet back in the other room. _'Oh well... I'm sure nothing will happen to it...'_

* * *

Zero opened the door to his room, and not to his surprise X sat there on the bed meditating. He snickered a little at this.

"Do you need something, Zero?" X asked, eyes still closed, not moving an inch. Zero was a little taken aback at how X knew it was him.

"Yeah," Zero started, causing X to open his eyes. "Shouldn't we be heading to the city? After all, it _was_ your idea." X simply nodded in response and slowly got up. Zero noticed that his room smelled strange, but didn't bother to comment on it because it was obviously X's doing.

As they walked by Axl's door, Zero thought up a scheme to get the redhead back.

"X, mind waiting here for a minute?" he asked.

"Yes," said X, "I do. No need to act so stupid just because Axl insulted you. He does it all the time. Let's get moving." the blue reploid continued to walk towards their destination. Zero pulled a face but followed along.

"Cool, they're gone." Axl snorted and ran quietly to X's room. X rarely locked his door, so Axl knew it would be a cinch to get in. He opened the door.

The problem, however, wasn't getting in... it was _staying_ in. He coughed at the thick smell of incense. _'How does X tolerate that shit? It's no wonder Zero never comes in here.'_ He looked at the blue hunter's calendar on the wall; that guy wrote almost everything down in it. Surely enough, on the day marked, was a red peace sign with "movie" marked next to it.

_'Going to the movies, 'eh? Well I certainly can't follow them in... and the movie will probably suck too... I suppose I could tolerate a bad movie just to get some fun in, though. Now to make up a cover story if anyone sees me coming out of here.'_ Axl looked around at what could be in X's room that he could snatch out without him noticing it was gone._ 'He likes to keep all the paperwork for some reason... maybe I could just yoink a paper out of here as a cover story... maybe just a blank paper would work, even...' _he glanced at X's printer. It had plenty of paper packed into it. Axl grinned in triumph and snatched one sheet out of the printer and continued on to his room to plan his next joke. He quickly exited the room but ran into someone accidentally.

"Oh whoops! Sorry!" A childlike voice responded. Axl looked down at who he had ran into; another reploid, but one he didn't recognize. He bore a canine face, with very long perked ears, and gold armor with a white stripe down his throat. He had a long wolf-like tail, which seemed to be imitation fur, as gold as his armor. His eyes were a deep emerald, a darker color than Axl's own eyes, and were filled with childish naivety. On his golden furry face, underneath his eyes were red patches of fur, making it look almost like he was bleeding from the eyes. He wore no helmet, so his front spiky bangs flew all over the place. The hair in back was waist-length, and was loose; like his bangs, strands of hair were all over the place. He didn't look like a kid that brushed his hair often. His armor was accented with red and black marks, with spikes on his shoulders and kneecaps. His legs were striped similiarly to Axl's armor's red stripe pattern, but not as heavily, and they were red and jagged, almost like lightning bolts. His gloves were white, but most interestingly about them were the red marks all over the backs of them; they were obviously marked on with marker and were jagged marks in random spots. These also appeared on his arms.

"Um... hello," Axl greeted after studying the animal reploid, "I don't think I've seen you around here."

The golden reploid struggled, "Uh, maybe you haven't been paying attention... uh, I don't really know who you are either..." he squeaked out in a frenzy, almost stuttering on his words. He was obviously stressed.

Axl scratched his head. "Maybe you just don't recognize me." The reploid noticed the paper Axl held in his hand.

"Hey, what's that for?" he asked, his voice less stressed, pointing to the paper.

Axl looked down at it. "Oh – I was borrowing a paper from X because I'm all out." he said with a bit of a pause between words. _'I hope he didn't detect that lie...'_

"X? You know X?" the kid asked, not even noticing Axl only borrowed _one_ paper.. Axl mentally slapped himself. It wasn't going to be easy to let this kid lay off so he can cause some mischief.

"Uh, yeah..." The scarface put his free hand behind his head. "He's a friend of mine... man, you really aren't from around here are you?" Axl began to walk forward slowly.

The canine gasped. He'd been found out. He followed Axl and asked, "No... I'm not... how'd you know?"

"Because," Axl giggled, "X is really nice. If you were from around here, you would know that." He paused. "Now will ya tell me why you're here and who sent you?"

"Ah! You're not gonna tell on me are you? Please don't tell anyone I'm not supposed to be here! I'll do anything!" the kid pleaded.

Axl smirked. "_Anything_? Well if that's your offer... you drive a hard bargain..." the redhead snickered evilly. "Sure, you got yourself a deal."

"Yippie!" The animal cheered.

"BUT–" Axl continued, "On one condition: You tell me who you are and why you're here."

"...!" The kid hesitated for words. "My name is Summanus. You can call me Manus for short. I'm a golden jackal reploid and I'm here because... well... because..." Summanus struggled.

"Who sent you?"

Summanus pretended he didn't hear Axl's question, and seemed to have an interest in his feet. "No one..." he whispered.

Axl nodded. "So you came here of your own accord. Snooping around, perhaps?"

"No." Summanus answered. "I'm here because I wanted to see what it was like, to kick Maverick butt all the time. It sounds like fun."

Axl laughed. "Really? Well I'm the guy to go to then! You're lucky you ran into me!"

Summanus cocked his head to the side. "Really? You beat up Mavericks?" he looked the other reploid over, who was about equal in height to Summanus. "You don't look like it."

This insulted Axl a little. "I'm not in armor."

"Oh..." The jackal reploid absently messed with the spike on his left shoulder. "You're short."

This insulted the scar-faced reploid. Someone as tall as he was, calling him short! "Hey you're short too!"

Summanus giggled. "You're shorter!" he said before childishly pushing Axl into the wall. He cackled when he saw the other reploid glare at him from his position against the wall. "Anyway," Summanus uttered, trying to change Axl's train of thought, "What is it I'm supposed to do for you?"

Axl snapped his fingers as he mentally pictured a light bulb appearing over his head. "You're going to help me in my mischief making spree today."

"What!" Summanus exclaimed. "You mean like, practical jokes?"

"Yep."

"Oh boy! This'll be great, I love playing practical jokes!" Summanus said with glee.

Axl smirked. "This'll be good." He sinisterly rubbed his hands together. "Oh yes, this will be good. I have a feeling that this is the start of a B-E-A-utiful friendship, Manus."


End file.
